


Causation

by blackwyvern



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 10:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3566174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwyvern/pseuds/blackwyvern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superstition : a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief..</p>
            </blockquote>





	Causation

They're out. In disbelief he opens every single cupboard. He even checks the fridge, and behind the stove, even though that would be impossible. Unless it was one of those little packets from the restaurant. He's used those in a pinch. Usually they keep a bag of it and fill one of the little ceramic pots April gave him as a gift last Christmas. How can they possibly be out?

 

He already knows how it happened. They've been so busy lately, running from crisis to crisis, trying to prepare for an inevitable confrontation with the Kraang or Shredder. Leo's been lost between training and strategy sessions, Donnie's been obsessing over his awesome turtle mech, and fussing over every bit of stray alien tech or message and Raph's been running around with Casey trying to find Karai. Mikey makes breakfast every morning though. How could he not have noticed they were running out? He knows how, he's been too focused on preventing everyone from having a mental or physical breakdown.

 

They always think he's annoying or a screw up, but he just acts the clown to get their minds off things, to make sure they take regular breaks, to take the sting out of their arguments with each other. Even if his family gets mad at him at least they're focused ON him for awhile and not everything else that makes their lives insane. And in all that he wasn't paying attention. He never realized they were running out and now...now there isn't anymore.

 

_'It'll be okay. Nothing will happen, it'll be okay.'_ He tells himself over and over as he makes breakfast. Scrambled eggs, toast, a little bacon, some coffee for Donnie. _'It'll be fine.'_ The smells of breakfast fills the empty kitchen but he isn't hungry. His stomach is flipping and twisting in on itself, dancing to it's own anxiety. _'It'll be FINE.'_ He thinks to himself forcefully in an attempt to banish the way his guts twist and writhe. It isn't working.

 

He remembers the first time it happened. It was an accident really. It had been shortly after they'd met April but before she'd given him those lovely orange ceramic jars. Having been introduced to new foods and ingredients Mikey had been experimenting in the kitchen while making breakfast. He'd been reaching for some spices in the cabinet above the stove when his hand had smacked into the large white and pink bag causing it to tumble forward. Some of the contents had spilled out over the edge and a small puff of granules had landed into the waiting uncooked eggs below. It wasn't a lot and Mikey had simply righted the bag, cleaned up the excess and stirred the eggs until the pinch of white crystals had dissolved completely.

 

No one had seemed to notice the culinary mishap, not even Sensei and he'd eaten this kind of stuff when he was human. Mikey though, had detected just a faint bit of sweetness as he ate. That entire day had gone incredibly well from training to patrol, better then any day they'd had in a long time. At first he hadn't attributed it to more then a stroke of good luck.

 

So the next morning he hadn't bothered adding that pinch of white crystals. And what followed had possibly been the worst day on record. Morning training had been pathetic, even the normally perfect Leo had seemed completely off his game. Raph had been particularly easy to irritate and seemingly angry with everyone and everything. Donnie had shut himself in his lab after a particularly nasty argument between all of them that not even Mikey had been able to cure with his cheerful demeanor. Sensei had even seemed to be effected, coming off distant and preoccupied. Mikey's attempts to engage anyone in a little fun and stress relief had all been met with more hostility then usual. It had continued through patrol that night as well. A mugger had gotten away with some ladies purse before they could stop the crime and he'd seemed to vanish before they could catch him. They'd been seen after Mikey had tripped during patrol and had to flee a few panicked pedestrians. The Kraang even got the drop on them! He'd never been happier then when they'd finally turned home for the night and had reached the safety of the lair.

 

In the morning Mikey had gotten up with his alarm to make breakfast as usual. While gathering his ingredients he pulled a few spices down from the rack and stared at that pink and white bag. He didn't know what possessed him to do it. It had only happened once, it wasn't like it had meant anything, right? Carefully Mikey pulled the bag down, pushed the flaps aside and poked at the substance with a calloused finger. He lifted the bag examining the packaging like it was some great mystery, some magical substance. The bag mutely returned the stare. The white writing across the pink bottom half proclaiming 'Pure Cane Sugar'.

 

Taking the tiniest pinch Mikey tossed it into a bowl and returned the bag to it's resting place. Adding the eggs and some milk he whipped the mixture until it was smooth and even looking. He pulled bacon from the fridge, lightly greased the frying pan and let each juicy strip start sizzling. Lastly he started the coffee maker for Donnie. At breakfast his family once again didn't seem to pick up that tiny tang of sweet after every bite of eggs.

 

As if fortune had once again chosen to smile down on them everything seemed perfect that day. Training once again went smoothly, and life for the rest of the day seemed perfect. No major fights broke out, no accidents during patrol, nothing. Oh sure they still had to fight for their lives with the Kraang but everything had just seemed to flow smoothly. That night as Mikey lay dozing in bed he decided that his first love in the universe was sugar. Whatever and however it had occurred, adding a tiny amount of sugar had seemingly guaranteed a day as close to perfection as it could be for the mutants.

 

From that morning on Mikey had continued to drop that pinch of sugar into their breakfast. He'd even had to get a bit creative about it. For example, sometimes Donnie didn't eat breakfast because he was too wrapped up in a project. The genius would rather finish up or reach a suitable stopping point. He wouldn't eat until after morning training on those days, though usually his movements were clumsy and sluggish from lack of rest. There was, however, one thing his older brother would never turn down.

 

Coffee.

 

To compensate and ensure Donnie receive his dose of good fortune on mornings when the genius clearly had been pulling an all nighter and was likely not to eat breakfast with them, Mikey would add a few tiny grains to his brothers coffee. If Donnie had ever noticed that his coffee tasted the slightest bit sweeter then normal on these days he never mentioned it.

 

Over time what had started as an accident became an ingrained habit and every time they happened to run out of sugar before a supply run only seemed to reinforce Mikey's superstition that without sugar his family was in danger. They'd run out of it when Shredder had ambushed them and they had barely escaped with their lives. And again when the technodrome had broken through to earth and Leo had nearly died TWICE in the same day and countless other times. It had happened enough that the youngest had become more then a little paranoid regarding his morning ritual.

 

With the Kraang clearly planning an invasion, something even he knew was bad news, Mikey should have been on top of this. It was the one thing he could do for his family, the one thing that worked even when his jokes and cheerfulness didn't. He should never have allowed their supply to run so low. Even if he'd had to steal some of those packets from the back of a restaurant again, something, anything to ensure their good fortune and safety. He should have seen this coming!

 

Gulping down a few panicked breaths Mikey screwed his eyes shut. “It's fine, it'll be fine.” He growled low trying to pull his thoughts from panic by giving voice to them.

 

“What'll be fine?”

 

He jumped five feet. Turning on his heel to a rather sleepy looking Donnie, Mikey, his eyes round as dinner plates, blinked rapidly. His older brother yawned and rubbed his eyes, clearly the genius had been up way to long again.

 

“I uh...ummm...” Mikey stuttered and scrambled trying to find something, anything to cover his rising panic. He knew if Donnie ever found out about his little superstition the genius would probably die of laughter. If there was one thing Donatello took no stock in it was silly little rituals to ward off bad luck. “I...well we're um...low on bacon.” He replied, eyes falling to the unopened package on the counter.

 

“Oh.” Donnie yawned again, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot, unsweetened coffee, Mikey noted to himself, once again suppressing the welling panic in his gut.“Well I'm not really up for bacon anyway, so...” He shrugged and moved back out of the kitchen, calling back, “I'll eat later, I'm almost done with that new software for the mech.”

 

“Okay....” Mikey replied to the empty air as Donatello had already vacated the kitchen.

 

Breakfast came and went. The air in the lair was tense, and Mikey tried his best to lighten the mood in any way possible. Raph had decided to go out with Casey to continue the search for Karai, but Mikey also suspected he just needed away from the atmosphere. Donnie had grabbed a quick hour of shut eye to recharge but then was back at it. His focus sharp as he continued to work on both the mechs final touches and his vast amount of computerized files involving the Kraang. The genius had even declared himself too stressed to eat. In an attempt to diffuse the tension Mikey had claimed neither could he while taking huge bites of his pizza, and Donnie's discarded slice as well. The joke hadn't worked and the situation had devolved further when Leo had started to argue with the genius over the best course of action to take regarding the aliens. Master Splinter had been forced to step in to remind the two brothers what was at stake. Feeling a bit useless Mikey had retreated to the pit alone. He'd brought a few more slices of pizza and had wolfed them down to try and keep up the semblance that, at least with him, all was normal.

 

The knot in his stomach from breakfast had never fully abated though and although no major disasters had occurred yet Mikey felt like the other shoe was moments away from dropping. The pizza he had pretended to so greedily eat sat heavily in his guts. He took a deep breath as Leo and Donnie had exited the lab, continuing their disagreement, though at a much less heated level. Sensei had rejoined them as well, probably to offer both his insight and to insure that his brothers kept being civil.

 

Mikey suddenly felt like the world was dropping out from under him though when April barreled through the turnstiles dragging another girl behind her...

 

“Guys, I'm really sorry about this!” She'd gasped, completely out of breath from what must have been a frantic run. The new girl had tripped on the way in, her glasses clattering to the cement.

 

“April you have brought a stranger? Here?” Sensei's voice had risen to an octave Mikey could recognize as concern as the rat master tried to discern whether this new person was a threat to their safety.

 

April's hands had risen, entreating with him, “Don't worry Master Splinter, she's cool. Right Irma?"


End file.
